The effects on treatment outcomes of counselors' access to the addiction severity index scores of substance abusers

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Abstract

An experimental design, (the pretest/posttest design)
was used in this study to investigate the efficacy of
substance abuse treatment using two instruments, the
Addiction Severity Index (ASI) and the biopsychosocial
assessment.

Fifty-six subjects admitted to the SYMBAS TEAM
Substance Abuse Treatment Program were assessed during the
initial stage of treatment using the biopsychosocial
assessment and the ASI. Through the process of random
selection, subjects were placed in one of two groups, an
experimental group or a control group. Counselors working
with the subjects in the experimental group had access to
the results of the ASI and biopsychosocial assessment for
treatment planning, and the counselors working with the
subjects in the control group had access only to the results
of the biopsychosocial assessment. At the end of treatment
(gO-days), the subjects in both groups were re-assessed
using the ASI to determine what differences, if any,
occurred between the two sample groups.

Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics along
with the Student test. Results revealed that there were no
statistically significant differences between the two sample
groups at the .05 alpha level. However, significant
reductions between the ASI pre- and posttests mean scores
were noted among several of the variables in both sample
groups. Also, the counselors' perceptions of the ASI
suggested that the ASI was preferred over the
bippsychosocial assessment for treatment planning, because
of its structure and the amount of time required to
administer the instrument.